luck has nothing to do with it (it's used for stuff like "chances of landing a one-hit kill"). 100 maggots and not a single item *does* seem weird though, and if your friends see them i think you're right after all... well, that's bad luck

i might have a few bug legs left, and i'm positive i have enough red stingers; i'll get back to you when i play some more, unless somebody else beats me to it.
that wont fix the bug though; have you checked if you've got all the needed resources? items are in <your tmw dir>/data/graphics/sprites/items.png; if it isn't there maybe the mac installer/game package is screwed.